Ask the wrong question in the just right situation and you can silence a room in a hot second. Fortunately, I was with some new friends who were willing to open up and give in to the spirit of the ice breaker question. "What is your guilty pleasure?" The prompt was given us to get us warmed up and talking before we dove deeper into the current week's study about finding freedom in our relationship with God and discovering our purpose in life. But who comes to church to lay something out before others that's a guilty pleasure... especially people we don't yet know very well? I'm sure they were all thinking... I don't know if I can share that? What will they think of me? Will they even understand? So to get them on the right track I had to define the term guilty pleasure as an activity that you do, or participate in which you know may not be best for you, or which you may be embarrassed to admit, but which you continue for some secret sense of pleasure. I held my breath a moment... I sure wasn't looking for anyone to give themselves up with a confession that would cause me to have to call the cops, or become a therapist. So I offered myself up to tell them about a TV show that I began to watch on Netflix which was so addictive I had a hard time not binging on it. And soon the circle was filled with discussion and laughter over what we shared and confessed. And I think we were all a bit relieved and surprised that what caused one person guilt was completely benign to another. And there was no judgement or condemnation in the room... only laughter at our own limitations. And I was brought to thinking on something Paul wrote in one of his letters to the church at Corinth... All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. 1 Corinthians 6:12 NJV As much as I kid about hoping none of them confessed a crime, nothing anyone said was illegal. So we certainly passed the first part. All things were lawful... But we also knew, that for each of us, at least personally, we were doing something that was not in our best interest. We struggled with realizing that all things are not helpful. And we were allowing a behavior or action to interfere with becoming the best version of us we could be. All simply because we sought some short burst of pleasure. For me, it was that silly TV show. But I just love a good mystery and seldom do I find something that holds my attention and actually surprises me as to "who done it," holding my attention to the end. But I honestly had this gnawing inside each time I watched it, knowing I was wasting my time. (not helpful) It not only kept me from my work, but there was simply no redeeming quality about the show. I mean it was a great mystery, with twist and turns that kept me intrigued. But it was also filled with violence and wrong relationships that I know serve no purpose to me. They only crowd my heart and mind, keeping the better things that God has for me from entering. It was believed when Paul wrote this, that this phrase... "All things are lawful for me" had become a common saying of the day. And he used their words, repeated, to make his point. And this his second point... All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. Some versions say... I will not become slave to anything. That is how serious Paul was being. Some of these little things in our lives that we consider as our guilty pleasures may certainly be lawful, and we do not consider them as harming anyone around us. But if they are keeping us from being the best version of ourself then we are giving into the power of them... we have become slave to them. Even if they are something so small as a TV show. When I realized my guilty pleasure, I honestly had to delete my avatar on Netflix to stop watching it. And I kept the TV set that way for at least six months so I wouldn't be tempted to watch it. Sounds silly, I'm sure to some. But I did't want something so unimportant in the scope of my life stealing from me or controlling me. I didn't want to become a slave to anything, except for a willing servant to my Lord, Jesus Christ. And if binge watching a TV show, or eating a whole pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream, or sleeping in until noon on Saturday, or late night shopping on Amazon gives you more pleasure than it does guilt, then more power to you. None of those are against the law! But if you feel the slightest twinge somewhere inside that says, maybe, just maybe this isn't the best for me... ask yourself if you could stop it. And if you can't... then maybe it has too much power over you. And then you know... it may be lawful but it's not helpful. it may be lawful, but it has too much power. So confess it to God. Ask Him to release you from it. He is more than able. And come up with a simple way to overcome it. Don't worry about what other people may say or think. It honestly doesn't matter. Other people can't possibly know what causes that gnawing inside of you. And they can't decide for you what is helpful and what controls. This is a decision only between you and God. Offer it up to Him.. Commit your works to the Lord, And your thoughts will be established. Proverbs 16:3 NKJV Word of God train me today... To have right discernment as to what is helpful and what may control me. To commit my ways to You, Lord and trust that You will help me let go of anything that keeps me from my purpose.
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January 2019
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